Published: Thursday, 8th March, 2007 12:00
Villager leads web campaign against ‘underhand’ banks
By Brendan Rooney
Print Article
Pic by: Dunfermline Press
A CRUSADING DAD who won back more than £6000 after taking on leading banks is heading a web campaign urging people to fight for their rights.
Kelty father-of-three Robert Cumming (37) recouped thousands after standing up to the corporate might of Abbey, Nationwide and Clydesdale Bank over penalty charges.
And now the business development manager is leading the Scottish branch of an internet action group campaigning for people to reclaim their cash.
Robert, who received a total of £6050, says charges being levied on customer accounts by banks are “underhand”.
He said, “They charge you for bouncing a cheque, they charge you for returning a direct debit and then they charge you for writing to tell you about it.
“It was very satisfying to get my money back. It is surprising how quickly the charges add up over time. I ran these up over six or seven years. Most of the charges were incurred when I was a student when it is very easy to get into a spiral.”
Robert began court action against the banks before they agreed the financial settlements over 2005 and 2006.
Last week, major banks announced record profits and critics say account penalty charges play a huge part. The Royal Bank of Scotland revealed a £9.2 billion pre-tax profit for 2006 while HBOS reigned in £5.7 billion and Barclays accrued £7.1 billion.
Last year, the Office of Fair Trading ruled credit card overdraft default charges should only reflect the company’s processing costs.
But Robert said, “These things are all done by a computer and it doesn’t cost them £30, it costs them pennies.
“There have been thousands and thousands of court cases and every one of them is settled by the banks because they don’t want a ruling.
“You write to them demanding your money back and they write telling you to get lost and then you start a court action and they settle.
“If they are not making a profit on it they have nothing to worry about and all they have to do is go to court and show their costs meet the charges.
“It’s all underhand. These are not companies that are struggling and in my mind that raises questions of the people who are running them.
“They are going to have to give back all this money and that’s probably what is scaring them. It will be billions.”
And now Robert has become the Scottish moderator for the online Consumer Action Group, which aims to help people get their money back.
He added, “Anybody who has ever had any bank charges should go straight back to their bank and demand it back with interest.
“There is nothing extreme about my charges. There are people on the website who are claiming back £20,000.
“There are people out there who don’t appreciate how easy this is.
They have this horrible feeling that the bank is going to turn up with Donald Findlay in tow and give them a good kicking and charge them £20,000 in court costs for the privilege. But there is nothing to be scared or worried about.”
Robert said the process could be done without the help of a solicitor and warned claimants against turning to ‘no win, no fee’ law firms.
A spokesperson for the British Bankers’ Association said, “Banks consider the fees for overdrafts are fair, reasonable and certainly legal.
“Banks publish tariffs of their charges which are available from their websites, branches, by phone and are also provided when customers open an account. These tariffs set out clearly the circumstances in which charges will be payable and the amount of those charges.
“The majority of bank customers in the UK enjoy free banking simply by keeping their account in credit unlike in most other countries where customers pay for each element of their banking.”
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